The Skin Nerd: How to tackle post-chocolate spots

The hero ingredients you should keep in your blemish toolkit.

Skin Nerd: A direct correlation between chocolate and acne hasn’t been determined but a study by the Medical University of Warsaw found that chocolate influenced an increase in insulin and glucose (aka sugar) levels in the bloodstream.

Indulging in chocolate this Easter weekend might potentially lead to a few pimples popping up. No judgement here, ‘tis the season for choccy eggs. The culprit? The high sugar content that’s often lurking in cheap chocolate and processed foods.

Let’s start with how spots form. A blemish is the result of dead skin cells mixing with the sebum (aka oil) that’s secreted by our sebaceous glands in the dermis, the second layer of skin. The amount of oil that’s produced by our sebaceous glands is influenced by androgens, our sex hormones.